Zachary Proper To Be Tried As An Adult – Defense Attorney To Appeal

The Oil City teenager accused of killing his grandparents at their home outside Franklin last October will be tried as an adult.

That was the ruling Wednesday in Venango County Court in the matter of 14 year-old Zachary Proper by President Judge Oliver Lobaugh. Proper’s attorney will reportedly appeal.

Proper was immediately transferred from a detention facility in Jefferson County to the Venango County Jail in Franklin. Charged with two counts of criminal homicide, his next hearing is scheduled for August 26. Proper is accused in the shooting deaths of George and Dorothy Fross at their home in Sandycreek Township on October 7.

Lobaugh counted among the reasons for his ruling the fact that the murders appeared to have been premeditated, his belief that Proper is a threat to public safety, and a strong doubt that the seven years that Proper, if convicted, would serve in a juvenile facility before his law-mandated release would be sufficient for the defendant’s rehabilitation.